WHITEMARSH — John Steinmetz never saw himself becoming a football coach.

A self-described “computer science geek,” Steinmetz never even played college football after playing defensive back for La Salle and head coach “Tex” Flannery back in the late 1970’s.

But after his freshman year at Spring Garden College, Steinmetz was asked to return to La Salle by his defensive backs coach Bill Loughery to help out with the football team. And with a few respites along the way, that’s where Steinmetz has been ever since.

Somewhere in between, the geek became La Salle’s defensive coordinator, and acquired another moniker.

“We call him a genius,” said Explorers fullback/linebacker Mike Eife, as La Salle wrapped a frigid practice at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School in preparation for Friday’s PIAA Class AAAA Eastern final against Coatesville. “Coach Stein always gets us ready. We’re prepared for whatever matchup we have.”

This season alone, the Explorers have dueled with the explosive likes of Saint Joseph’s Prep, Roman Catholic, West Catholic and last week, Parkland. In every case, the explosions were kept to a minimum. And with the exception of a regular-season meeting against the Prep, the Explorers have won.

Some might say the Explorers are blessed with gifted defensive personnel, and they wouldn’t be wrong.

But with the team heading into its fourth state Final Four in as many years, there’s something more to the team’s success than just good players.

“If we execute his game plan,” Eife said, “it usually goes well for us.”

A key to Steinmetz’s consistency has been his ability to combine his coaching with his love of technology.

The chief technology officer at SEI Investment in Oaks, Steinmetz, who will be 54 next week, has taken the digital age one step further in coaching the Explorers defense.

“I have the best job in America,” he said. “I have a software program enables me to draw up plays, I get printouts for the players and send them to their phones, so they’re able to study the opposition’s four or five best plays before we even begin preparation.”

“He has all of our phone numbers and e-mails and we get diagrams of game plans,” said Explorers tackle Tom Spiteri. “He uses his I-pad, and it really helps out. We get everything right to our phones, and we’re reviewing it before we actually meet. It’s real efficient.”

The method of teaching may be cutting edge, but the philosophies within those e-mails are definitely old school.

“The people who made the biggest impact on me, as far as defense goes, were Tex Flannery and Joe Colistra,” Steinmetz said of the former La Salle head coaches that he played under and coached under, respectively. “Joe is one of my favorite people. I spent a lot of time with him learning about defense.”

Through the years, Steinmetz’s influences and experiences have helped him develop his own defensive philosophy.

“I’m big on alignment and assignment, being in the right place and doing what you’re supposed to do,” he said. “Next, I’m a believer in not getting beat deep.

“And I’ve always felt chance favors the prepared mind. We have a big emphasis on film study.”

“He really stresses everybody knowing what they’re doing,” Spiteri said. “He says as long as people know what they’re doing, no matter how bad his game plan is, it will work.”

Steinmetz added that it hasn’t hurt that former La Salle players like John Butler, who has coached at Harvard and the University of Minnesota and who is now an assistant at South Carolina, and Sean McDermott, former Eagles and now Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator, have been willing to answer his phone calls.

“Also, a number of players who have played collegiately have given me their playbooks and their suggestions,” Steinmetz said.

Still, the coach said there’s nothing that beats hard work and attention to detail when preparing for an opponent.

“At this level, when you’re in the state playoffs, you’re seeing teams you’ve never seen before,” Steinmetz said. “All of these games are hard to prepare for.”

And when problems arise, such as those that cropped up as the team prepared last week for a high-powered Parkland offense, it just takes a few more hours of work.

“At the beginning of the week, we were struggling in practice,” Spiteri said. “Our defense wasn’t working out, especially against their outside running game. Coach went home that night, worked on it and sent us a different plan. And it worked great.”

Great might not accurately describe it. Parkland came into the game against La Salle averaging 40 points a game. They left with 7 points, while yielding 12 sacks - and a loss.

“Early in the week, our defense was terrible against our scout team,” Eife said. “But Coach Stein had a better plan the next day. I’d be lying if I said I expected us to shut them down. But we got out front fast and hit them hard.”

While the praise for his work rolls in, Steinmetz is fast with a game plan to deflect it, choosing instead to credit the work of Explorers defensive coaches such as Dom D’Addona and Mike Grant on the defensive line, Kevin Schmidt with the linebackers and defensive backs coaches Tom Allen and Kevin Dougherty.

“And let’s not kid ourselves,” Steinmetz added, “our kids are playing great. All I do is line them up.

“I’m just the orchestrator.”Who is directing one incredible defensive symphony.